Process for renovating worn flanged wheels



Dec. 9, 1924. 1,519,029

A. GOLLWITZER PROCESS FOR RENOVATING WORN FLANGED WHEELS Filed March 15,1924 s AWE/W08,

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Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES ALBERT GOLLWITZER, OF NUREMBERG, GERMANY.

PROCESS FO'R BENOVATING WORN FLANG-ED WHEELS.

Application filed March 13, 1924.

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT GoLLwrrZER, a German citizen, and a residentof Nur emberg, Germany, have invented a new and useful Process forRenovating orn Flanged TV heels (for which I have filed an applicationfor patent in Germany on December 27, 1922, Serial No. G. 58,192 1/491'3), of which the following is a specification,

The worn tyres of flanged wheels of carriages of all kinds are generallyrestored to the desired cross-section by turning them up. If by repeatedturning up of the tyres they have been reduced to a certain minimumdimension, then in the case of wheels with pressed-on tyres, a new tyremust be shrunk on, while in the case of wheels, where the tyres areintegral with the body of the wheel, the wheels must be entirelyrenewed.

The expenditure on wheel-tyres owing to their wearing out constitutes,especially in the case of railways and tramways, a very considerableportion of the total working costs. Its reduction would be equivalent toa notable increase in the economy of the undertakings mentioned andwould be to the interest of the whole community.

If the wear occurs only on the tread the loss in material due to turningup is comparatively small, and. cannot be avoided.

The case is however quite different if greater wear on the flange incomparison with the wear of the tread has taken place, or even if theflange has worn sharp. In this event, which for example is to beobserved on railways in at least 30 per cent of all sets of wheels sentin for turning up, the restoration of the prescribed shape by turning upentails an extraordinarily big loss of material, together withcorrespondingly high loss of labour and tool-steel in the turning.

The feature of the invention is that the wear of the flange is made upby filling in material so far as is rendered necessary by the wear ofthe tread of the wheel to be renovated or of another wheel rigidlyconnected therewith. The final reduction to correct dimensions bymachining can then follow with the smallest loss of material andreduction of the diameter of the wheel or flange.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing A represents the original upper contour lineof'tlie cross- Selial No. 699,126.

section of the wheel-flange, B the actual upper contour line on a wheelwhich has developed a sharp edge, C the highest contour line for theminimum permissible thickness of the wheel-flange which is entailed inrailway wheels by a turned groove.

In order to restore the prescribed con. tour (D) by turning down thewheel flange which has worn sharp according to contour line B, the wholeof the hatched cross-section between B and D must be removed. The sameloss of material is incurred however not only on the wheel which hasworn sharp, but also on the second wheel fixed on the same axle.Although this wheel, even if the other has worn sharp, may have itsflange complete, yet at-least as great a quantity of most valuablematerial must be converted into turnings from it, in order that bothwheels may have equal running diameters.

The turning up in the case of coupled axles of locomotives leads to aquite extraordinary waste of material. Owing to a single flange havingworn sharp, in some circumstances six, eight or more wheels, most ofwhich have approximately their full cross-section, must be turned up inthe most wasteful manner.

How completely uneconomical is the ma chining hitherto done on wheelswhich have worn sharp is obvious from the following considerations Ifthe wheel which has been turned down to the contour line D again wearssharp, itcannot possibly be restored to the prescribed sectional shapebecause the permissible minimum thickness of the flange would beexceeded; nothing else remains but to re-tyre both wheels of the pair,or in the case of locomotives in some circumstances the whole of thecoupled Wheels after only two runs. That is a terrible waste, especiallywith the present cost of re-tyring.

These disadvantages of methods hitherto used are obviated if inaccordance with the invention the wear on the flange is made good byfilling up with a material so far that to obtain the correct shape onlyso much has to be removed from the wheel flange as is determined by thewear of the individual threads of the wheel to be renovated or of onerigidly connected with it.

Fig. 2 shows how the flange is filled in from the worn-down contour lineB to the line E, while Fig. 3 indicates that on restoring the shapeaccording to the prescribed contour line D it is possible to keep quiteclose to the Worn down thread, so that the desired shape can be obtainedwith a very thin out. The sectional surface to be obtained is limited onthe one hand by B E and on the other hand by D and comprises only asmall fraction of that which Would have had to be removed by the oldmethod. Correspondingly also only an equally small fraction of thecostly material of; the Wheel tyre of one or more Wheels rigidlyconnected with the first one goes into scrap as turnings.

The whole of the interconnected Wheels can by means of the new processWhen their flanges Wear sharp be turned up at least ten or twelve times,and last therefore for at least eleven or thirteen rrmning' periods, ascompared With two such periods when old methods are employed. The lifeof Wheel tyres With Worn flanges is thus increased about sixfold.

The cost for the filling up bear but a small proportion to this gain.They are in great measure already met by the economy in. turners Wagesand in the scarcely more important expensive quick drilling steels.

30 The filling in of the section of the flange for steel tyres can, inthe present state of knowledge, be best done by autoge-nous or electricwelding, by Which means also any desired degree of hardness can beobtained. Experiments which have been made have shown that a completelysatisfactory union and homogeneity of the addition With the originalmaterial is obtained.

1 claim as my invention:

A process for restoring Worn flanged car Wheels to a normal contourWhich consists in first Welding a fillet of metal to the Wheel bodyWithin the Worn groove in the Wheel flange, shaping the added metalapproximately to the normal flange contour desired and building up thesame to an excess thickness corresponding to the thickness the: Wornthread to be removed, and subsequently simultaneously removing theexcess thickness. of the Whole flange and the corresponding thickness ofthe Worn thread, thereby to bring both the thread and the flange to anormal contour.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed. my name this 25th dayof February, 192st.

ALBERT GOLLlVITZER. Witnesses 1 ALEESI PI-IILIPPOFF, MARIE BAER.

